Political Candidate Drops Out Of Race Due To Racy Facebook Photos

from the that-was-quick dept

It really was just three years ago when we were saying we couldn't wait for the MySpace generation to run for office, knowing that the skeletons in their closets wouldn't actually be in their closets at all, but would have been posted online for all to see. While we actually expected that it would lead to a point where people pretty much brushed off and ignored such "youthful indiscretions," we certainly have't reached that point yet. A guy running for office in British Columbia, Canada, has dropped out of the election after images of him groping a woman's breast (that first appeared on his Facebook page) came to light. It's not clear when the photos in question were taken, but expect to see political candidates and their online presence scrutinized in more and more detail in future elections...

Re:

Time will tell

I believe that these issues will go away once the old generation dies off. It takes a while for a whole culture to shift, but it will happen eventually. Just like we don't really care whether our politicians have been divorced anymore, this will fade away with time.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe this will go away as soon as newspapers and tv are gone; sensationalizing trivial political things gets a whole lot harder without mainstream media.

Nothing new, just evolved for the digital age

Bill Clinton: I didn't inhale.
Press: (giggle)OK.
Bill Clinton if he was of the Internet Generation: I didn't inhale.
Press (or maybe just Fox News and some bloggers): But, Mr. Clinton, you posted photos of yourself at a party with what looks like you breathing in air from an apparatus that contains water and a gree substance that is alleged to be marijuana.
Bill Clinton: Check out my saxophone playing ... (sidles off).

Youthful Indescretions

The candidate is only 22 and did not know any better, but should have.

It would not make a difference to many voters, but the NDP are a strange, flaky, lefty, politically correct bunch and even though the woman in the picture seemed a willing participant the NDP do not wish to alienate the core "anything with a penis is evil" membership. If he were gay and the picture was of him kissing a man the NDP would have fought to the death for candidate Ray Lam.

Everything you do on the Internet is for all to see. If it would get you arrested, upset your mother now, upset you in twenty years, or get you to drop out of an election - don't do it.

Back in college, I wanted a friend to take a picture of me, copying a hilarious pose that Phil Hendrie once used on an album cover to post on my blog. Now I'm glad we never got around to actually doing it. It would have involved a cigar, a pith helmet, a 40 ounce can of cheap beer, and a sleeveless denim jacket with Hell's Angel patches all over it.

With employers now routinely checking MySpace and Facebook pages before deciding to hire someone, I'm glad we never got around to taking that photograph and posting it online.
It wouldn't have been obscene - but it sure would have been complicated as hell to explain to a boss, future in-laws or God knows who else.

This ain't a real story; Is it?

This is insane. I'm much older than Mr. Lam, and I'm fairly conservative in my personal life, though I tend to liberal politics... He had to stop his candidacy because he was goofing around a party? He was playing the fool for the camera for fun, and we really had people think this had ANYTHING to do with how he'd be as an elected official? You *can't* be serious. These pictures aren't even really"racy" much less obscene or anything more serious. I know I'm late to comment on this but I'm flabbergasted. This is like an onion story - it can't be real. Freakin' loosen up Canada.. Gosh-golly-gees he's had a few beers in his life...Anybody 22 years old without at least a few pictures like that on a social site would be too weird a member of his generation to elect. He'd be too obviously outta touch with his 21st century reality!

I'm waiting for the day when all candidates in a election will be in a similar situation. Then the parties - and the public - will have no choice but let them run for office anyway, or else change the political system completely (which everyone seems to be dead afraid of, but that'a an entirely different topic).

don't call private people "weird"

"Anybody 22 years old without at least a few pictures like that on a social site would be too weird a member of his generation to elect."

What?!?!? Wanting dignity, and wanting to keep your private life private, should be regarded as "weird"? I'm a little worried about comments like that. The suggestion that young people who don't want to make exhibits of themselves are weird and should "get with the program" is actually a new and pernicious form of conformity, where you have to be an extravert and exhibitionist to play a part in society. As a natural introvert and non-showoff I find this disturbing.

Re: don't call private people "weird"

not the first or last example of this idiocy

A Dan: this is a very different issue from whether politicians are divorced. The issue isn't whether it was morally correct for Mr Lam to have behaved as shown in the photographs, it's whether it was appropriate for him, as someone running for *public office* to allow these images of himself to become publicly available. I don't think that the boundaries between professional and personal are likely to blur such that it does become acceptable.

The main lesson from this is that posting info/iamges about yourself online is no different in principle from any other publication, and the same rules of sensible communciation apply. And that freedom doesn't mean absolution from the consequences of your actions. This isn't the first example of such idiocy, and it won't be the last.

re: My "Weird" comment

If it is a common act in a generation's social process to do something and you don't do it you are an outlier. Hence you may be considered weird. A lot of people are weird and I didn't mean it as an end-all be-all negative. I didn't mean to imply that Mr. Lam was *required* to have such a picture... but that It is WELL within the norms of his demographic and shouldn't surprise anyone (especially given the tame nature of the "racy".) Sorry if I overstated the case. And yes if you don't want something public you don't have to make it public by posting it online. I'm in violent agreement with both of you. (In my defense I was still stunned by the insanity of the article)